Hemingway’s

The service is reasonable but I had the New York strip steak and was very disappointed. Pretty tasteless and tough. Poor quality version of what should be a good steak. And the mushrooms looked like they were just dumped out of a can. Not at all what I was hoping for. Not going back. Marriott need to upgrade their game for food service.

Fantastic service here, and great portions. Well decorated, even though it is a hotel restaurant, it seems different than the rest of the hotel. Prices are higher but in line with most hotels. A view of the pool if you eat near the windows or outside.

Go for the breakfast buffet, but make sure you’re hungry in order to make it worth $ 20. For a business trip, not bad.

The Costa Mesa Marriott is a business-​traveler suite hotel and Hemingway’s is the absolutely obligatory and average hotel-​lobby restaurant/​bar. There’s a couple employees and a couple customers. Neither of whom are really glad to be there. Are the drinks ok and the food fine? Sure, they are perfectly fine. Nothing more… nothing less.
A small group of conference attendees had exactly 55 minutes to eat lunch. Clearly, there wasn’t really a lot of time to leave the hotel in search of «better food.» So, we accepted our fate and sat down for a quick lunch. As with most hotel restaurants, my suggestion is to not get too creative. Stick to the basics for the «safest» choice. Most of us got one of the salads. I went with the Cobb Salad. It was relatively fresh with Avocado, Bacon Pieces, Hard-​boiled Egg, and Blue Cheese. It was a-​ok.
The few staff were slightly over-​run by the conference attendees, so it actually took longer than hoped to get our food. We were left with about 10 minutes to eat. Otherwise, the service was a-​ok. Prices weren’t cheap or crazy for a hotel.
Hemingway’s is a very cool name for a restaurant, but this is not a destination restaurant or bar. There is no reason not to eat/​drink here if you are at the hotel and there is NO reason to eat/​drink here if you are not at the hotel or can leave it.

I had a great chicken caesar salad for lunch. The most impressive part was that the grilled chicken on top was actually crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. I also tried the sweet potato fries and they were quite good. As it’s close to my office, I’d go back for lunch again.

It’s not hard to do a half-​decent breakfast.
But, service was lousy, food was poor, and prices were high. $ 65 (incl tax & tip) for 3 people for a mediocre breakfast that took far too long, without coffee and water refills.
Not only will I not eat here again, I will stay elsewhere so that I can eat elsewhere.

The Hubby and I stopped in to order at 1045pm, and they closed at 11pm. He had the grilled chicken sandwich and fries which was very tasty and a large portion. I had the soup and ½ a sandwich combo for 10.00 and it was very good. The white bean soup (which I’ve never had) was very good & the sandwich had very thick deli sliced turkey sandwich, thick melted slices of American cheese & mustard. We sat at the bar and had screwdrivers as well. The service by the bartendress was pleasant despite her cleaning and organizing to get ready to close up. PS– They also offer «fit and healthy» menu items